1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus in which print settings can be changed over automatically.
2. Description of the Related Art
When it is desired to print a plurality of documents using different print settings, the conventional practice is to open an application and a dialog screen, which is for setting a printer driver, change the settings and then print, one document at a time. However, this operation is extremely troublesome in cases where documents are large in quantity. Moreover, since operation by the user is required, it is difficult to automate the procedure. The specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-53860 discloses a printing control apparatus in which the user can readily select from previously stored print settings in accordance with the attributes or state of the document to be printed. Alternatively, the apparatus allows the selection to be performed automatically.
The XPS (XML Paper Specification) printing system, which is included with the Windows (registered trademark) Vista operating system, has come into widespread use in recent years. XPS data, which is print data received by the printer driver in this system, contains public attributes referred to as “core properties”. By using the core properties, the printing application can store information in the print data and the stored information can be utilized in the printer driver. Thus, configurations that are difficult to achieve in a conventional GDI (Graphic Device Interface) printing system become possible with the XPS printing system.
FIG. 13 is a diagram useful in describing the concept of configuring document data. A document illustrated in FIG. 13 contains print settings and core properties. There are also instances where a digital signature is added to the document. In order to change the print settings, it is necessary to comprehend the document format and to unlock the digital signature. Generally, therefore, making the change is difficult. On the other hand, the core properties can be changed easily even in cases where the document format is not known. Accordingly, if control can be exercised so as to change some of the print settings of the printer driver at the time of printing by changing the core properties, then user friendliness can be enhanced.
With the printing control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-53860, it is necessary to acquire the attributes of a print document by accessing a document file or document management server from within the printing program. To achieve this, therefore, the full-path name of the document file or access account information, etc., is required to be delivered to the printing program. However, there is the danger that such an arrangement will lead to security-related problems. Further, since such information cannot be delivered to the printer driver in a public interface, it is difficult to implement the technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-53860 in a printer driver. Furthermore, in a case where printing is carried out from within an application that designates the print settings, it so happens that the settings are changed over to the print settings that have been selected by the user or that have been selected automatically. A problem which arises is that the designations made by the application are lost.